solano



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R. SOLANO.

SIGNAL FOR RAILWAY CARS.

Patented Sept. 28, 1886.

INVENTOH fie 78 050 @056: 7

ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

B. SOLANO.

SIGNAL POE RAILWAY CARS.

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MN MW N. PETERS. Plmmmho ra hu, Waahlnghm. D. Q

UNITED STATES RENA'LDO SOLANO, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSTGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO JOHX \V. HO\VARD AND DAVlD ll. MORSE, BOTH. OF SAME PLACE.

SIGNAL FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

esECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,959, dated September 28, 1886.

Application tiled September $3 1885.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that l, RnNALno Somxo, late 01' San Francisco, in the State of California, but now of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Signals for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a SpGClllCfli/lOll.

This invention relates to that class of signal apparatus which is carried by the car, and the principal object of which is to indicate when the car is in motion or at rest; and its object is to provide a simple, ellicient, and easily actuated apparatus for said purpose.

My invention comprises certain novel com- 1 5 binations of parts whereby this object is el'lectually secured.

Figure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 an end view, of an apparatus embracing my said invention. Figs. 3 to 7, inclusive, are detail views, on alargerscalc, of certain parts of said apparatus. .Fig. 8 is a top and Fig. 9 is a side view illustrating the operation of my said invention in connection with an air-brake mechanism.

A indicates the car-body, and B the rear platform thereol'. These may be of any ordinary or suitable construction, and, when desired, the car may be of the simple character and construction known as a platform-car.

C is a cylinder provided with an internal piston and with a piston-rod, a. This cylinder, with its adjuncts, is attached to the car in the manner usual with the air-cylinders of the well-known air-brake, and the cylinder, its 3; piston, piston-rod, valves, and other adjuncts may be the same as those used with or in connection with the cylinders of air-hrakes, and from a suitable source ofsupply the cylinder is supplied with compressed air in the manner 0 usual with the cylinders of air-brakes. As

such construction is well known and understood by mechanical engineers, railway mechanics, &c., it is not necessary to describe the same in detail here.

\Vhen desired, the usual air-brake apparatus may be adopted in toto, the piston-rod a being extended to connect the brake mechanism therewith, to enable the movement of the piston within the cylinder to actuate the brake 50 in the usual or well-known manner.

In the apparatus shown in the drawings a link or lever, l), is pivoted to the car-body at its upper end, and at its lower end to a rod, E, which connects to a horizontal crank-arm, I), on the lower end of the vertical signal stand ard, shall, or jou rnal F, which is supported in suitable hearings on the platform B, so that the said standard is capable ota movement about its own axis. This leverl), which gives movement to the signal, as hereinafter eX- 6o plained, may be connected with the brake mechanism in any suitable manner; butIprefor that shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The pistonrod (t has at its outer end a cross-pin, a, which passes through a slot, 1/, in alevcr, I), which, like the cylinder, is secured to the car-body. One arm, (1*, of this lever D is attached to a rod, 6*, which extends to a yoke, 0*, which, by a rod, (19 and suitable brake-lever, 0*, and brake-rods actuates the brakes g from the 0 piston aforesaid, the arrangement of the parts being such that when the brakes are applied to the wheels, as in stopping the car and as while the car is stopped, the movement of the signal-standzn'd F will bring the signal to the position which indicates that the car is slowing up or is stationary, and when the brakes are released from the wheels the same movement of mechanism which so releases them will turn said signal-standard to bring the signal to the position which indicates that the car is started or in motion, or is (the brakes having been brought from the wheels) on the point of starting. From the opposite end of the lever 1) may extend a rod, 15*, which con- 8 nects with a lever corresponding to D on the next or adjacent truck, to operate said lever from said rod in the same manner that the lever l) is operated from the piston-rod ofthe cylinder, as herein described. 9Q

The motion or the reverse of the car is in the usual railway practice accompanied by the release or application, as the case may be, of the brakes, and hence it follows that the signal apparatus, being actuated in unison with the brakes, will correctly indicate, according to the circumstances, the motion or the stationary condition of the car.

As concerns the simultaneous operation of the signal and the brake mechanism in the up IOO paratus as represented in the drawings, movement'is transmitted from the cylinder 0 as follows: The piston-rod a has alateral stud or pin,'0, which passes through aslot, f, in the link or lever D, so that the movement of the piston-rod in one direction or the other will communicate a corresponding movement to the rod E, and consequently to the crankarm I).

Upon the upper end of the standard F is the lantern G, (shown in Figs. 4 and 5,) one face ofwhich is provided with a single pane, a, and another, )referably one at right angles to that first mentioned, is provided with two panes, b. In lieu of this distinguishing difference between the two sides, any othersuch as differences in color-may be adopted.

By actuating the cylinder mechanism, as with an air-brake, to move the piston-rod outward, the rod E, as shown in Fig. 1 and in the dark lines of Fig. 3, brings one of the faces aforesaid of the lantern to the rear, and by similarly giving a reverse movement to the piston-rod the rod E is moved backward, as indicated in dotted outline in Fig.3, to bring the other face to the rear, the signal being thus operated by a movement around or upon its own axis of its standard,shaft, or journal F, imparted from the compressed-air cylinder by the piston and piston-rod through mechanism connecting the latter with said standard,shaft, or journal F. One of the faces of the lantern, when turned to the rear, being understood to indicate that the car is in motion, signals that fact to those in the rear. The'other facebeing understood to indicate, when turned to the rear, that the car is at rest, knowledge of that fact is in like manner signaled to the rear.

WVhen desired, a signal-disk of the ordinary or any suitable ki-nd as, for example, that shown in face View in Fig. 6 and edge View in Fig. 7may be substituted for the lantern'with the same effect. e

I do not confine myself to the employment of the special mechanical devices for connecting the signal devices with the piston-rod, as various means of transmitting motion may be used in lieu of those herein set forth, so far as concerns the broad principle of my invention; but those herein set forth are those which in myjudgment are to be preferred in point of simplicity and directness and positiveness of action.

What I claim as my invention is' In a railway-signal apparatus carried by or on the car, the combination of a signal device, a standard, shaft, or journal constructed and arranged to receive an axial movement, a compressed-air cylinder, piston, and piston-rod, and mechanical devices for connecting the said standard, shaft, orjournal with the pistonrod, substantially as and forlhe purposeherein set forth.

RENA LDO SOLANO.

Witnesses:

JOHN G. HONEY, CHAS. MAQINNEs. 

